Associate Bonus Watch: Tiers Of Scrutiny
You can get a market bonus for billing solid hours at this firm.
The untimely passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, to which we’ve devoted extensive (some say excessive) coverage, will not keep Above the Law from performing one of its main missions: coverage of Biglaw bonuses.
Today’s announcement comes from Hughes Hubbard & Reed (whose bonuses we haven’t covered in a few years). HHR announced its bonuses earlier this month, but it took us a little while to get all the info we needed.
(Remember: our bonus coverage depends on the help we get from you, our readers. We can’t bring transparency to Biglaw compensation without the information and bonus memos that you send us, by email or by text (646-820-8477). Thanks, as always, for your contributions.)
How Savvy Lawyers Build Their Law Firm Rate Sheet
As you may recall from prior coverage, Hughes Hubbard pays market base salaries until you’re a sixth-year associate (i.e., market rates through the fifth year). Here’s the firm’s base salary scale (with the market scale aka Simpson Thacher scale indicated parenthetically for comparison purposes, starting in the sixth year):
Class Year – Salary
1st – $160,000
2nd – $170,000
3rd – $185,000
4th – $210,000
5th – $230,000
6th – $240,000 ($250,000)
7th – $250,000 ($265,000)
8th – $265,000 ($280,000)
9th – $275,000 ($290,000)
10th and above – $280,000 (varies)
(Occasionally associates with bad reviews may get penalized by having their salary frozen, says a source.)
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As for bonuses, here’s how the Hughes Hubbard system works, as one tipster tells us:
Basically there are four tiers for all associates (no stub bonsuses for first years): 1950, 2100, 2300, and 2500 hours.
Bonuses are doled out based on where you are on hours, with most the firm generally hitting market or above this year at tier 2 (the 2100-hour mark).
Generally the bonus is purely based on billables, but for the past couple years you could count pro bono/quality office hours above 200. This year, they switched to allow counting of pro bono hours above 50 and quality hours above 150, but in each case those hours can only bring you up one tier.
In addition, 20 associates who didn’t make hours can still get a $5,000 consolation prize bonus if they do good work and make a case for it. You need to apply for it in your end-of-year annual accomplishment summary listing stuff you did and why you deserve a bonus. This was a compromise made a few years ago to keep people who couldn’t make hours (because there was no work from their rainmakers) happy-ish enough to stay.
The firm pays bonuses after reviews, which should be finished by the end of February.
And here are what the tiers look like:
So take, for example, a class of 2010 associate. The market aka Cravath bonus for that seniority level is $80,000. At Hughes Hubbard, a class of 2010 associate will get $80,000 at tier 2, i.e., for billing 2100 hours. For more than 1950 but under 2100 hours, that associate will get half the market rate, or $40,000. At the 2300-hour mark, that associate will get a shade above market, or $90,000. For 2500 hours, which is a whole lot of hours, that associate will get a decent amount above market, $105,000.
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How do HHR associates feel about their bonuses? Here’s a summary:
As usual, people who made hours (especially people above 2500) are happy this year, and those who didn’t aren’t. Some associates are annoyed about pro bono hours not counting until after you hit 50 (and then only hours above 50 are counted).
I think it’s great that people actually get significantly more cash for suffering through heavy hours.
The system seems fair enough — not especially generous, not unusually stingy. The Hughes Hubbard tiers won’t induce joy, but won’t trigger tears either.
Earlier: Hughes Hubbard Issues True-Up Raises, Above Market Bonuses (If You Hit Your Hours)
